Latest George Harrison Articles

Ken Scott—one of a handful of recording engineers to have worked with the Beatles—has stories to tell. And lucky for us, he loves telling them. To emphasize the point, Scott will be publishing a 500-page memoir, Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust, on June 6 through Alfred Music Publishing. The book recounts the events of what Scott calls his "blessed life" working with innumerable rock legends.

The late George Harrison -- who loved to record and happened to have a top-notch recording studio in his home for many years -- left behind a wealth of demos and early versions of songs that went on to be considered classics. Ten of these recordings appear on Early Takes Volume 1, which will be released May 1 by Hip-O Records to coincide with the DVD/Blu-ray release of Martin Scorsese's 2011 Harrison biopic, Living In The Material World.

On this day in 1965, The Beatles recorded “Help!” -- the song -- during a four-hour session that started around 7 p.m. at Abbey Road Studio Two in London. Twelve takes were recorded; the first eight were of the rhythm tracks only, with vocals appearing for the first time on take nine. John Lennon -- the song's primary writer -- sang lead vocals, backed by Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

It's unlikely John Lennon had much of anything to do with recording Harrison's second Abbey Road contribution. He was still out of commission from his July 1 automobile accident when work began on this Harrison track on July 7 in Studio Two.

While The Beatles spent the first months of 1969 getting back to their roots with the Let It Be sessions, EMI's Abbey Road Studios was moving headlong into the future. On November 23, 1968, Studio Two's control room had been outfitted with EMI's new TG12345 mixer, the first transistorized recording console in Abbey Road.

Although George Harrison -- aka "The Quiet Beatle" -- died of cancer in November 2001, his influence as a guitarist, songwriter and singer is still felt. And, despite the fact that Harrison released several lauded solo albums and wrote songs for other artists, his best-known songs are still the ones he wrote for The Beatles.

All you guitar-playing Beatles fans who still don't own iPads, take note: The Guitar Collection: George Harrison, a new app devoted to George Harrison's Beatles-era guitars, is available through iTunes today, two days before the guitarist's 69th birthday.